At least on this night — though he hopes for many more — Max Scherzer looked like the future Hall of Famer whom the Mets made their $130 million man.

Scherzer saved his best start of the season and his longest as a Met for the defending world champs, silencing the Astros in an 11-1 laugher on Monday at Minute Maid Park that was well-timed for the star and his club.

The Mets (34-38) showed some hope to begin a six-game road trip that will go from Texas to Philadelphia. 

They have a pulse after winning just their fourth game in the past 15 and beating the Astros for the first time in their past eight  head-to-head matchups.

A pair of five-run frames helped. 

As did Francisco Lindor’s five RBIs. But the Mets have Scherzer — whose ERA fell from 4.45 to 4.04 — to thank most for the series-opening destruction.

For a third start in a row, the Mets staked Scherzer to a significant lead, but for a first time in that span he held it. Scherzer allowed just five base runners and one run in eight excellent and efficient innings. 

The loss of Aaron Judge clearly has impacted the Yankees’ offense, but the reigning AL MVP wasn’t the only slugger on their roster who previously has proven capable of carrying a lineup for lengthy stretches.

Giancarlo Stanton also had been one of those hitters earlier in his career — and when healthy, at times, with the Yankees — but he has been searching to regain any semblance of his timing and power stroke since returning from the injured list.

Stanton now is batting .119 (5-for-42) with 15 strikeouts over his first 12 games since making it back from a six-week hamstring absence. 

Those numbers include seven hitless at-bats with one walk and five Ks as the Yankees were swept — 6-2 and 4-1 — by the Red Sox in Sunday’s day-night doubleheader at Fenway.

“I just need to find my rhythm, pick the ball up a little sooner,” Stanton said between games. “The reps help, but at this time, I don’t have time to just take reps to get them under my belt. I need to make an impact when I’m in there, so I just need to figure it out.”

Stanton has not been the only lineup regular slumping since Judge was sidelined with a toe issue two weeks ago; Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu and Josh Donaldson also have been mired in pronounced skids.

“They’re gonna hit. Big G is gonna hit. They’re gonna get it rolling.,” Aaron Boone said. “We just gotta grind our way through it right now while we’re in a little bit of a struggle.”

The game was certainly an emotional roller coaster. The Cardinals jumped out to an early lead thanks to Nolan Arenado’s two-run bomb in the first, but Matthew Liberatore had a clunker and couldn’t make those runs stand up.

Paul Goldschmidt drove in a pair with a double while Brendan Donovan brought one in with a single. Paul DeJong and Jordan Walker also provided some power. What was left of their early lead was washed away by former Cardinal Tommy Pham’s two-run shot against Chris Stratton.

From there, it was a battle of the bullpens. And in the ninth, the Mets bullpen blinked first when Arenado took another former Cardinal deep in Adam Ottavino.

Jordan Hicks made things a little interesting, but got a double play to secure an 8-7 win for the Birds and their first series victory since late May against the Dodgers.